#7 What's Going On by Marvin Gaye

The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time

2025 Album Rank

7

2011 Album Rank

12

Total Points

2574.5

Year Released

1971

Billboard 200 Chart Peak

6

Weeks at #1

N/A

RIAA Sales Certification

500,000 (Gold)

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What's Going On Album Details

What's Going On marked a radical shift for Marvin Gaye, both musically and personally. Stepping away from Motown's formulaic hit-making machine, Gaye crafted a concept album that explored themes of war, poverty, environmental degradation, racism, and spiritual despair, all told from the perspective of a disillusioned Vietnam veteran returning to a broken America. With its seamless blend of soul, jazz, and classical influences, the album was unlike anything Motown had released. The lush arrangements, layered vocals, and spiritual intensity elevated Gaye's voice into a prophetic force. The record became not just a musical triumph, but a landmark in socially conscious art.

The album was famously created against the wishes of Motown founder Berry Gordy, who initially called it "the worst thing I've ever heard." Gaye, reeling from the death of his singing partner Tammi Terrell and disillusioned with the world, held firm, even refusing to record anything else until it was released. The gamble paid off: What's Going On became one of the most celebrated albums of all time, a profound and poetic response to the turmoil of the early 1970s.

Interesting Facts about What's Going On

• Motown's studio musicians, The Funk Brothers, were largely responsible for the album's sonic texture, especially bassist James Jamerson, who recorded his iconic basslines while lying on the floor, allegedly intoxicated.
• The title track What's Going On was inspired by Renaldo "Obie" Benson of the Four Tops, who had witnessed an anti-war protest and wrote the original idea with lyricist Al Cleveland. Gaye transformed and personalized it into the version we know today.
• Gaye recorded most of the album in Detroit's Hitsville U.S.A. studio and later at Golden World Studios, layering his vocals in a technique that engineers initially believed was a mistake. It later became one of the album's signatures.
• The song Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) was one of the first major pop songs to address environmental destruction, released a year after the first Earth Day.
• Several of the tracks, including God Is Love and Wholy Holy, reflect Gaye's spiritual searching and growing frustration with organized religion.
• Despite being a concept album, What's Going On produced three major Top 10 hits: What's Going On, Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology), and Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler).
• The entire album runs as a continuous suite, with songs bleeding into one another, an uncommon feature in soul and R&B at the time.
• The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 for its cultural and historical significance.

What's Going On Track List

1. What's Going On - Reached #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart
2. What's Happening Brother
3. Flyin' High (In the Friendly Sky)
4. Save the Children
5. God Is Love
6. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) - Reached #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart
7. Right On
8. Wholy Holy
9. Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) - Reached #9 on Billboard's Hot 100 Chart

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